Epimetheus : Afterthought
by Kraven Ergeist
Summary: One Shot: Kaworu gives Shinji a second chance.


**Evangelion Fan Fiction**

**_Epimetheus_ : Afterthought**

By Kraven Ergeist

* * *

Kaworu and Shinji watched the scene play out before him. 

"Pathetic."

Watched as Shinji did nothing, while the world around him turned to war, the people he knew turned to madness, and the entirety of humanity depending on someone who not only couldn't save them, but refused to.

"Simply pathetic."

Bodies fell and died. Blood leaked from the lifeless cadavers.

Ritsuko – Shot in the chest. Misato - Shot in the back.

Asuka – Eaten.

While Shinji did nothing.

"You truly are pathetic, Shinji," Kaworu mused, looking down at the boy. "You did nothing. _Nothing!_"

Shinji just sat in the chair in the dark, hanging his head in shame and self-pity.

"You may think yourself incompetent," Kaworu confirmed, standing behind the boy, as the scene replayed itself over and over before their eyes. Shinji's own personal hell. "And, to a large extent, this is true. But I can assure you: had you even but lifted a single finger while all this had happened, the outcome might have been better."

Kaworu seized the chair, turning Shinji around to look at him. "All of humanity is _dead_ because you _refused_ to so much so anything! It isn't even about doing what's right and what's wrong; it's about doing _something!_"

The scene replayed itself, and Unit 01 cried to the sky, as Shinji screamed a nightmare's howl. Yet, despite the sight that met his face, the sight of Unit 02's torn body being casually devour, Shinji did not so much as move.

The scene replayed itself, and the white devils then captured the Evangelion in Shinji's possession, the very tool they needed for Third Impact. Nothing stood in their way.

Kaworu waved his arm. "You _let_ them do this, Shinji! You _gave_ them what they wanted! You could have done a million horrible things, Shinji! You could have messed up so horribly, it had left everyone you cared about dead! It could have even been you, killing Asuka with your bare hands – and it would have _still_ been a better outcome then what you let happen, Shinji!"

Kaworu took Shinji's face and peered into his eyes. "I'm not asking you to have faith in yourself, Shinji – that much won't happen right away. What I am asking is that you not give up. You could have performed your absolute worst out t here that night. But no one would blame you for not trying."

Shinji did not react. He did not even acknowledge the gray haired boy ragging on him.

"I'll show you, then," Kaworu decided, releasing the boy's face. "I'll show you what the consequences are for giving up."

The scene replayed itself, and a yellow beach lay under a red sky, the broken moon and dying angels drifting away in the clouds. A heartless girl and soulless boy lie together on the sand. Forever, torn between life and death, forever living with the pain of humanity, Shinji and Asuka waste away, forever.

Hell.

It was hell.

"…Why…?"

Shinji held his face in his hands, broken and hurt.

Kaworu shook his head. "Ideally, in your place, there would be a hero who shows up in the nick of time to save the day. You are no hero, Shinji. You never prove yourself. You back away. You give up. You don't even try." Kaworu took Shinji by the shoulders. "I'm not asking you to be a hero, Shinji…I'm asking you to go out there and fight anyway. Fight to live, fight to die…it's your choice…as long as you try…

"I'm going to give you a second chance, Shinji," Kaworu looked fiercely at him. "I'm going to let you correct your error. I love you, Shinji…but I love humanity even more. So long as it is within my power…I will not see them killed…not by you."

Shinji's tears were ceaseless. "I can't do anything worthwhile! I'll make things worse!"

Kaworu released him. "That's not possible, Shinji. You've already hit the bottom. That hell you saw? It's already happened. There's only one possible outcome now. Go now and change it. Make it better. You don't have to make it perfect. Just try. It will be better, I promise."

Shinji shook his head. "Why? Why do I have to do this? Why can't I just…disappear!"

Kaworu drifted away into nothingness. "Because if you do…then the rest of the world disappears with you…"

And then Shinji drifted back to reality.

And he made his decision.

He broke the confines of tree of life.

He shattered his prison and halted the ritual.

Then he fought.

Like nothing before, he fought.

He cried blood and spat bile, as his body grew numb with ache and sore.

And still he fought.

But the white behemoths never died.

They never died.

So Shinji made the ultimate sacrifice.

He self-destructed.

Taking the white Eva's with him.

By the time the world fell back into place, the white devils, the Eva's, and Shinji were no more.

And the world was still spinning.

"It looks like I was wrong," Kaworu said as he watched the world go by. "You were a hero after all, Shinji."

Asuka would live.

Misato would live.

Even Rei would live.

His friends…his family…everyone who meant anything…and everyone else…Shinji smiled as he watched the world alongside his only true friend.

"Thank you," Shinji said to his friend. "Thank you."


End file.
